I'm wondering if I'm doing too much, physically. As in more than I need to maintain by a TON.

The reason I ask is I went into Sparkpeople and started playing with my numbers and goals. I've been working to maintain 140-143 pounds, eating about 1,850 calories per day and working out five days a week. The thing with Sparkpeople is that I can change my calorie goal, but my workout goal doesn't change to correspond with that automatically.

Is there any reliable way to figure out how many calories I should BURN a week to maintain my weight, with my calorie intake?

MindiV, there is no way to know that. No calculator can do any more than give you an estimated amount, based on averages. And as many of us have discovered, an "average" just doesn't usually apply to an individual.

The only reliable way is to change things and see what the results are. Maybe drop your gym exercise to 4 days a week, and make it every other day, without changing your eating. Stick with that for awhile--like two or three weeks--before you change it again. Don't panic if the scale changes during that time. Your body has gotten used to doing what you tell it--any change will need adjustment.

You might also want to consider what is more important to you--having to exercise 5 days a week, or weighing a few pounds more. I'm just saying, in case that should happen.

Jay

Thanks, Jay...that's what I figured. Had hoped for a more analytical option. I'm good with things on paper...not so good with "try and see."

It's not that I feel BAD or anything. It's just that I'm getting overwhelmed. It seems as though I'm having to do more and more to hit the goal I set for myself since I've gotten used to the machines and other things I do...my early morning workout is having to start earlier and earlier for me to get it in!

Then I got to playing around with Sparkpeople, and it suggests 960 calories a week burned to maintain 142 pounds with my calorie intake, and I'm more than double that every week - 2,200-2,400. So it got me worried that maybe I AM overdoing it and just don't realize it.

Well theoretically if you are eating 1850 calories a day x 7 = 12950 calories/week then you need to burn 12950 calories a week to maintain right?

I do agree part of it is trial and error. If you want to cut down on workouts why not trying cutting out one workout and after two weeks see if anything changes. Then if you want to try cutting out another day until you start to see the scale creep up. At that point you can either drop some calories or add back another workout

You can also always get a bodymediafit or bodybugg or fitbit and track your burn that way (but it costs money).

I think it's very hard to know what to do number wise in terms of calories burned because even if you do figure that part out, aren't the machines at the gym inaccurate anyway about how many calories they say you burn? I could be wrong, but that's just a quick thought I wanted to add.

I use a heart rate monitor...I think I can trust it...or hope I can! In a week's time I generally get above 2,300 calories burned, according to the HRM.

I'd love to get a Bodybugg just to see. But that's a lot of money "to see." Come on, lotto!

Working out five days a week has just been a part of my life for so long it's hard to cut out a day. It feels unnatural if I don't do some type of workout Monday through Friday. I literally have missed MAYBE three workouts since July 31, 2007. Cutting back is like....losing an arm or something. It's a part of who I am now. It's going to feel weird.

Well, then don't! Instead of cutting out a day, shorten your workouts and keep doing five days. For example, if you're used to doing 2 hours, drop to an hour and half. Or if you're used to 1 hour, drop to 45 minutes.

Another idea would be to change your level of exercise. If you've been running at a certain speed or intensity level, lower it.

There are all kinds of ways to work it. But I'm kind of unclear on why you're trying to change it. Is it just because of something you've read? Or are you beginning to feel worn out by what you're doing?

Jay

I don't know that I trust my HRM - I had a Polar FT60 for three years, and thought it was pretty reliable. I did notice that it showed a high burn for most things compared to calculators I've found, but figured that since I had a high heart rate and keep it way up there during exercise that it was probably pretty accurate. I just this month had to replace it with a Polar FT80, and it shows a much lower burn for the same activity at the same intensity. I'm pretty patterned with my workouts, so they tend to show similar numbers week to week. Because of that I don't typically count exercise calories burned in my total much at all. I look at food consumed, and if I have a heavy exercise day I may eat a little more. I figure that the exercise burn is just extra.

I know that you have been dealing with a weight creep - are you wondering if you are gaining because you are exercising too much? I've wondered about that myself in the past, but weeks without exercise haven't made a difference for me. They seem to have no net impact at all, either in gain or loss.

All you can do it try it and see.

Jay, it's a lot of things...I'm constantly tired these days, but I don't know if it's because I'm working out more or not sleeping long enough.

All of this really started back around the holidays. I'd been going along for a while with the same sort of routine, and in preparation for the holidays (which involve more eating than normal, even though I keep it to a minimum), I added time to my workout. It wasn't in response to weight gain or anything...just trying to counter-act the extra indulging.

Well, it felt good to go a little longer at first. I felt more energized and like I'd started working out for the first time all over again when I pushed myself a little further, time-wise.

Then after the holidays...I didn't lower my time back to "normal," and in fact, I don't remember what "normal" was. Now, like I said, I feel tired and sort of run down a lot of the time. I no longer enjoy working out -- it's a chore. I used to get up at about 5:30 to work out...now it's 4:30 a.m. just to get it in before work.

More than anything, I just worry that I'm becoming sort of obsessed, in a bad way. If I burn fewer than 430 calories in a workout, I feel like I failed. It doesn't help that over the past six months or so, even as I've kept my calorie counts stable and jacked up the workouts, and extra weekend activities, I've GAINED weight. I started at 138 pounds and now I'm 142-143 regularly. That makes me think all the more that I need to do MORE, and not less.

That's sort of where the "calories burned number" came in....I want to be able to get into my mind that it's OK if I don't get rid of 2,100 or more calories a week. I wanted to SEE something that told me "Look, you need to burn X to maintain your weight..." so I would feel like it's fine to do less again.

Maybe I'm just crazy.

I've had my HRM for a long time...a few years now, at least. It may be time for a new one....and to just bite the bullet and see what happens with less workout time, or a skipped day...

Aren't we all (to an extent)? (LOL)

I think the number one thing I noticed in your post is this:Granted it sounds like it was over the holidays, but that is my problem to a tee. I over indulge and can't quite get back on track. Perhaps 6 months later I'll get back on track but am unable to lose. Then the holidays hit and I over indulge again. It's been a cycle for me for the past 5 years and it seems that each year, over those indulgent holidays and subsequent cold days where I feel inclined to eat comfort food, I gain 5 pounds. Around summer time, I up my exercise and try to eat cleaner and manage to do both, but never enough to lose the weight. Just a few weeks ago, I found myself 25 pound over goal (and 20 pounds over my red line weight). I just couldn't get myself motivated to lose the pounds again.

I finally bit the bullet and started Medifast. At first I said I'd try a month to at least get going on the diet because losing a few pounds is a good motivator for me. I made my DH do it with me because, frankly, he could stand to lose at least as much as I need to. We're both impressed. I think we're going to continue with it until we've each lost at least 20 pounds. Then, I think a way of maintaining will be to either do Medifast or something similar without buying their food on the weekdays and go off plan on the weekends. It's similar to how I maintained for the first couple of years, so I know it works.

Oh, and I'm thinking of looking into a fitbit. Wardhog uses one and it seems simple enough and not too expensive. IDK.

You aren't crazy. You sound just like me. Well, maybe we are both crazy.

I jacked up my exercise, too. If I don't hit 500 cals burned in a day then I pound harder the next day. I've been almost constantly tired, misc. aches and pains, soreness. I have gained weight. I've come to the conclusion in the last few weeks that I'm overtrained, and am taking this week (a hard one at work, so difficult to overexercise) to rest a little and see how I feel next week.

I've also slept fitfully, and I wonder if that is a sign of my overtraining, too. Poor sleep can add to weight gain.

How is your heart rate recovery after exercise? If your average workout heart rate has been getting steadily higher and your recovery time to return to your resting heart rate is longer than you are definitely overtrained. When was the last time you took a recovery week? We all need time here and there to rest and repair.

ETA - muscles hold water after exercise - I've also felt seriously bloated for weeks now, and wonder if it is because of the overtraining, too.

500 is my normal number to hit, but 430 is my absolute, basement, bottom of the barrel lowest number I'll allow myself. And I don't do that much.

I'm not having a lot of muscle aches, but my back has been sore for a while. My feet also hurt. I'm not sleeping well either -- going to bed too late for waking up at 4:30 a.m. I also hit snooze now, and never used to before.

My heart rate used to get up fairly high, then stay in my mid-range...150s. Now 165 is high for me, and it drops fairly quickly. From what you said, that's a good thing.

As for a recovery week....never? I've never had a week off. I take off Saturday and Sunday...but Monday through Friday it's every day.

We've talked about the "weight creep" over the last several months. I've also started feeling more bloated and just "bigger" around my middle. More jiggly.

Well--this is just my opinion, and I know some people might see me as a "slacker" but I believe a very real danger exists of becoming obsessive/compulsive about exercise.

If you find yourself feeling anxious because you "didn't do enough," then it could be that this is happening.

In a way it's almost like a superstition--I guess that goes along with the OCD aspect. Must get in X number of minutes or reps or calories no matter what. Like having to tap the door 12 times before opening it, or any other "magical" ritual. And there is a doomy feeling that "something bad will happen" if one doesn't do that thing.

Hm, I just noticed that you get up at 4:30 and then do a minimum of 430 calories of exercise.... hm...

The fact that you are tired all the time but still getting up at 4:30 a.m. to get your exercise in? Well, MindyV, if you were my daughter, I'd tell you you've got to change that--it's kinda... nuts! I wouldn't last three days on a regimen like that. This isn't the Marine Corps...

And yeah, adding more stress doesn't help weight maintenance.

Jay

Jay - I absolutely agree that it is possible to get OCD, and even addicted to, exercise. I think I have. I've been trying really hard in the last couple of weeks to pull back a little and give some space between myself and the exercise crazy.